Over 1/3 of current COVID-19 hospitalizations at MaineHealth are 'coincidental'
30 of the 82 people hospitalized with COVID-19 at MaineHealth hospitals are there for reasons other than COVID-19.
30 of the 82 people hospitalized with COVID-19 at MaineHealth hospitals are there for reasons other than COVID-19.
30 of the 82 people hospitalized with COVID-19 at MaineHealth hospitals are there for reasons other than COVID-19.
Data shared to WMTW News 8 by MaineHealth shows that 30 of the 82 people hospitalized with COVID-19 at MaineHealth hospitals are there for reasons other than COVID-19.
These cases referred to as "coincidental" hospitalizations by health officials, occur when a patient is admitted to the hospital with a non-COVID-19 ailment, gets tested for COVID-19 while in the hospital, and tests positive. These cases are counted by the hospitals and the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Northern Light Health says it does not have an exact percentage of coincidental hospitalizations but estimates that the number is similar to MaineHealth.
The 36.5% number is down from one week ago when 45% of MaineHealth's hospitalizations were coincidental. MaineHealth officials say these numbers are not surprising given the current high COVID-19 rate.
"When you think about a thousand people being hospitalized, mostly for not COVID, you're gonna find people who have COVID," said Dr. Dora Mills, the Chief Health Improvement Officer at MaineHealth. "So just because they got it didn't realize they had it, and sometimes they have some mild symptoms, but it's not what drove them to the hospital."
When questioned as to whether the inclusion of the coincidental cases amounts to a mischaracterization of the hospitalization data, officials from Northern Light Health and the Maine CDC say that being consistent with all forms of the virus is their duty.
“It's not that the state of our hospitals across the state is trying to fool anybody," said Dr. James Jarvis of Northern Light Health. "That's not our intent at all. Really, what you have to talk about is does this make good clinical sense? It doesn't matter whether or not a patient comes in and tests positive with acute symptoms of COVID-19, versus somebody who comes in who is asymptomatic for COVID-19 but still tests positive. We have to treat those two individuals.”
"The key point is that safety protocols for patients with COVID-19 are the same, regardless of whether they tested positive before or after admission to the hospital," the Maine CDC said in a statement. "Being consistent in the way COVID-19 data are reported is one way to prevent information from being mischaracterized."